Master's Professional Reports Abstract

Monorail is a technology that has been much overlooked since its first
appearance at the turn of the twentieth century. Even as systems have been built
in locations across the globe, it has captured little interest in the current
transportation planning community because it is perceived to be twice as
expensive as installing light rail technology. The focus of this paper is to
analyze the costs and benefits, specific to Austin, of establishing a monorail
system in comparison to a light rail system. This paper will acquaint the
reader with the different modes of rail transit
currently available to public transportation planners. Later, a history of rail
transit in the United States and in Austin, Texas will be presented in order to
illustrate the value of grade-separated rail systems in an inner-city context.
Further, this paper will demonstrate that much of Austinís interest in pursuing
light rail technology is the result of an outdated planning process that began
in the 1970s, but does not adequately address the needs of the population as it
enters the twenty-first century. Finally, this paper will analyze the cost and
benefit differentials between the two technologies in an attempt to prove that
the financing gap is not as large as it may appear.